Christmas was snowy this year

...and that's an understatement. In total, we have about 6 feet and it is currently snowing so heavily that I cannot see the Lake that was once right outside my window. But - it's absolutely gorgeous. If you can forget about the car wrecks, endless hours of shoveling, collapsed roofs, canceled flights and power outages, the snow is the greatest thing to happen to Coeur d'Alene since Good Morning America. We got about 4 inches of snow between 8am and 1pm today, followed by rain, freezing rain, and some incredibly gusty wind. I'm hoping that's all that Mother Nature has to throw at us today, unless a little sunshine is in her plans.

Christmas this year was a little hectic this year. Grant was supposed to catch a flight to Boise on Christmas morning, but he managed to catch the flu and decided to stay in bed all day on Christmas and the few days following. I felt so bad that he spend Christmas feeling so crummy...but God bless Walgreens for being open and providing the necessary medication to knock him out for the night. My brother and his wife didn't make it into town until late Christmas night, so we all stayed up for them and did a mini-celebration with presents and turkey for the second time. My cousin and aunt from California managed to make it into town with standby tickets and I think they really enjoyed watching us shovel endlessly while they continued to use the excuse of not bringing any winter clothing....yeah, sure. But it's been great having all the family in town and they're all staying past New Years so we still have a few days to hang out and enjoy the Griswold traditions!

I was really spoiled this year and Grant got me a KitchenAid stand mixer that I love oh-so-much! It's sitting on my counter, just waiting to be put to the test and I think I've found the perfect recipe to break it in. My work will probably start getting daily deliveries of my new baking attempts - but I hardly think they'll complain.

My brother got me the most incredible blanket ever made and all I want to do is go home, wrap up in it and sleep until I have no more sleeping left to do. Does it make me old when I start daydreaming about soft blankets and stand mixers? Please don't tell me if it does.

Anyway, I'm just always so thankful that every year, Christmas is filled with family, friends, too much food and a roof over my head. It's really easy to forget about those who don't have any of that and every once in awhile I have to force myself to think about what really matters during the holidays...and no, it doesn't involve chocolate and wrapping paper.